Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan Part-18

[Gopal.s]

Andha Naal (B/W 1954; Sivaji Ganesan, PandariBai)
Dir: 'Veena' Balachandar
Written by: Javar Seetharaman

By PrabhuRam(P_R)

Imagine a movie made in 1954 without any songs. Imagine it with a shocking start: a murder and followed by an investigatioon. Narrated without digression with a slickness unparalleled in Tamil movies even till date.

The story moves from the murder of engineer Rajan (Sivaji Ganesan) in his own house and the landing up of an investigation duo headed by Javer Seetharam. The audience now, (and always) knows only as much about the victim and the murder as
the investigators know. The duo pick up hints and leads and proceed on with investigation. The investigation reveals more and more about the dead man. Each possible suspect has known one dimension of the dead man. An arrogant scientist , a caddish opportunist to his mistress, a scheming backstabber to his neighbour, a selfish gold-digger to his sister-in-law, a cold but in a weird way loving man to his brother, an ambitious and earnest young man to his teacher and an unpatriotic individualist to his wife.

In the small flashbacks each lasting about ten minutes each Sivaji, in arguably THE greatest perfomance of his career, brings to life that dimension, that the narrator of the flashback intends to highlight. In fact the movie traces the character over time and we progressively understand rajan's motivations for previous actions
as the narrative progresses. There are also six enactments of the plausible ways in which the murder could have happened and Sivaji is a treat.The clear characterization is achieved with minimal dialogue and extraordinary acting, which the viewer realizes not so much while watching but when he reflects after the movie.
JS's taut screenplay is also kept alive by keeping the audience guessing as we are led to view with suspicion each of the suspects who all bore grudges against the dead man. JS also sprinkles some naughty humour without upsetting the balance.

I am not much for technical details but I recall this one scene in a park where Sivaji meets his mistress and he is washing his hands off her in an extremely caddish manner. She entreats him but he remains unswerved.At the end of the scene it is as if you can imagine Sivaji with a tight lip and raised eyebrows playing arrogant. Now, why do I say 'imagine' ? That is because one does not see either of the players in that scene.We only see their silhouttes and in Sivaji's case the smoke from his cigarettes. The scene is of incredible visual appeal.

Honestly I don't recall much about the background music which is a lifeline for such a movie. The movie is set in the backdrop of WW2 in those days where Adyar was still navigable but I am in no position to evaluate the historical accuracy of art-direction etc. At the risk of sounding naive I can say that the furniture, clothing and Madras outdoors were pretty stagnant in style for a long time, so I guess there is no jarring inaccuracy.

JS acting is a little affected at times, terying to look like GKChesterton's father Brown. The climax unravelling follows a wee bit of melodrama but that can of course be excused. In fact the very last shot itself makes amends for the temporary dip in style towards the climax. It's not a very long movie and there is nothing exclusively Tamil in its appeal. Strongly recommended for those who haven't seen it and those who have seen it too